Chick-fil-A to open Toronto stores
Conservative U.S. brand will have 15 GTA locations
An American fast food company known as much for the conservative political views of its CEO as it is for its signature chicken sandwiches announced Wednesday it will open its first Toronto location next year.
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, which became the subject of a boycott in 2012 after CEO Dan Cathy tweeted that the U.S. Supreme Court’s support of same-sex marriage was “a sad day for our nation,” said it has plans to bring about 15 of its locations to the Greater Toronto Area over the next five years. The company’s expansion comes as a handful of foreign fast food chains have also expanded into Canada.
Foreign brands are likely attracted to the country and Toronto because of the large population, international reputation and proximity to the U.S., said food industry expert Robert Carter, who expects other large companies will watch Chick-fil-A’s expansion to guide whether they should head to Canada too.
“Toronto is considered one of the more multicultural cities in North America, if not the world, so it is a great platform for brands expanding international to test out the Canadian market and then start to fine-tune some of the differences from the U.S. business model,” Carter said.
“Chick-fil-A is a very beloved brand down in the U.S., with strong consumer loyalty, and I think some of that brands’s awareness will translate for Canadians as well ... When you look at loyalty, it is almost on par with a brand like Tim Hortons in Canada.”
However, Chick-fil-A is unlike most of the homegrown fastfood brands or foreign ones that have come to Canada because it’s known for its religious and conservative values.
The company is owned by the Cathy family, a billionaire evangelical Southern Baptist clan, which attracted plenty of attention in 2012, when its president Dan Cathy said he believes in the “the biblical definition of the family unit” and said those who “have the audacity to define what marriage is about” were “inviting God’s judgment on our nation.”